A Magician

[oDDity]

I'm going to make them all with milky white eyes. Mages (I'd prefer they were called sorcerers, which also works better in tandem with necromancers).

You cannot learn learn to be a magic user, you have to be born with 'the gift', and babies born woth the gift have these eyes. They can still see using their gift, but their vision gets to about 10 metres in an inverse square falloff, so tey can see up close very well, but 10 meters away is a shadowy fog.

To balance these they can also detect living things with their gift. This could be translated for game purposes by giving them worse vision than an average AI, but better hearing.

The casters for the builders use a different kind of magic that can be learned through meditation and prayer, and it's quite limted compared o the sorcerers.

[god_is_my_goldfish]

I'll be the first to come back with the usual response:

 

FUCKIN' AMAZING!

 

 

Also, I like your gameplay idea, that would make for better differentiation between AI's.

[Fingernail]

that's what I call a FACE

[Macsen]

Looks great, like an angry old man who has lost his slippers. I'm glad you have not gone over the top with the colours.

 

I like the look of the 'milky eyes' and the idea that there's some kind of hereditary mage gift. However that would put an end to many of the 'impostor mage' ideas in the world book - how can you pretend to be a mage if your eyes are normal? Having them be so blatantly magical might not go down well with the realism crowd.

 

Keeping that in mind it might be best to reserve the miky eyes idea to the high level mages.

[SneaksieDave]

Indeed that is a face. Angry looking old bastard and at the same time, someone you'd better not piss off. I like the ideas too.

 

[Springheel]

The model looks great. I also like the eyes. I like the idea of the magical 'gift' causing slight mutations, like the eyes, or silver hair, or strange markings on the skin. It could be different for everyone. A 'wizard's mark'.

 

Alternatively, we've already said that spellcasting is dangerous, so perhaps the white eyes is a common result of miscasting powerful spells.

 

I agree with Macsen that having all mages with those eyes could limit some storytelling ideas though. And it would be fairly easy to make different skins with other eye types or facial markings.

 

I also agree the term 'sorcerer' should be a fairly common term used for Mages, with a slight negative connotation (like the biblical use of the term). Mages could be the more neutral term they use for themselves.

[Macsen]

I just realised where that mage looks familiar from...

[oDDity]

WE'll have to get NH to record the vocies sets for him then -

'Drink!, Feck!, Girls!'

Looks great, like an angry old man who has lost his slippers. I'm glad you have not gone over the top with the colours.

 

I like the look of the 'milky eyes' and the idea that there's some kind of hereditary mage gift. However that would put an end to many of the 'impostor mage' ideas in the world book - how can you pretend to be a mage if your eyes are normal? Having them be so blatantly magical might not go down well with the realism crowd.

 

Keeping that in mind it might be best to reserve the miky eyes idea to the high level mages.

 

It doesn't necessarily have to be hereditary, it can just be random.

What do you mean 'imposter mage'? How could you pretend to be a mage if you can't do magic anyway?

I hardly think realism plays any part when it comes to sorcerers. THey are blatantly magical.

[Springheel]

It doesn't necessarily have to be hereditary, it can just be random.

 

Agreed. Otherwise it would be too common.

 

What do you mean 'imposter mage'? How could you pretend to be a mage if you can't do magic anyway?

 

There are probably lots of people who use slight of hand and other various tricks to convince people to pay them for magical services (like love potions, removing curses or hexing their neighbours, etc.) That was quite common in history.

 

The reason I'd argue for only _some_ mages having white eyes (either because it's only one possible mutation or because it only happens later) is because we don't want mages to be too easily identified, or else they'd never survive long enough to get powerful patrons who can protect them. Many babies born with white eyes would likely be killed right away by superstitious parents. Those that weren't would be at constant risk from witch-hunters and zealous Builders, long before they had the power to defend themselves.

[oDDity]

I think the Builders have too much power here.

There should be a power triangle, each corner having an equal amount of power.

The Magicians, the Builders and the Technology minded inventors.

THerefore, babies born with the gift are taken to the magicians to be brought up and instructed.

The builders and their followers may see magic as a bad thing but there are many who don't. A gifted baby born to a noble household would be a great prestige thing for them and get them influence in the magicans guild.

I'd imagine poorer families would be happy with a one-off payment, and having a gifted child would be like winning the lottery for them, they'd take it straight to the magicians.

[Macsen]

Many babies born with white eyes would likely be killed right away by superstitious parents. Those that weren't would be at constant risk from witch-hunters and zealous Builders, long before they had the power to defend themselves.

There could be a good story there actually. One of the top mages could have been born with white eyes. His mother tried to drown him in a bucket before anyone saw, and in his rage the baby brought the house down on top of her. Some apprentice finds the baby, dumps him on the Mages' doorstep, and away he goes.

 

There should be a power triangle, each corner having an equal amount of power.

Yes, but I think the power of the Builders is more visible. They're keen on throwing their weight around, building huge cathedrals ad letting everyone know who is boss. The Mages on the other hand are more subtle, controlling parts of city life without ayone knowing. It could b that they are as powerful as the Builders, but not as keen on showing it?

[Springheel]

There should be a power triangle, each corner having an equal amount of power.

The Magicians, the Builders and the Technology minded inventors.

 

Nothing wrong with a power triangle, but I don't think the Mages should be in it. We basically agreed that we didn't want mages (and therefore magic) to be very common. And based on our discussions last summer, we did establish that the Builders aren't the primary power in the city...they only have authority over 'church law', and are constantly getting into power struggles with the nobility for who has jurisdiction over what (just like in history).

 

Anyway, this all starts to get into 'official setting' discussions, which doesn't affect the model any. Is there any chance that this model could share animations with the builder priest? Actually, I suppose that wouldn't work since he has a staff.

[oDDity]

THere may not be as many mages, but they're damn powerful, and the Builders obviosuly don't have the strength to mess with them, otherwise they'd have done so and finished them off.

It can probably share some anims with other robed characters.